Tag: mimosas

Loads of fresh tangerine juice goes into this homemade sorbet (along with a couple of other special citrus-y ingredients) to make it the perfect upgrade to your morning mimosa.

When I say these are THE Freshest Tangerine Sorbet Mimosas, I mean these tangerines came off the tree that sits about 30 feet from my front door and were squeezed less than 10 minutes after they were picked. They’re THAT fresh. But hey, I’m not here to throw shade at anyone that may not have a plethora of fresh citrus at the ready – we’re in the throes of winter now, folks, and there’s no better time to snatch up all of the fresh tangerines and lemons you can find and throw them together to make some delicious Tangerine Sorbet Mimosas just in time for New Year’s!

Let’s back up for a quick second, though, because I need to know: when it comes to frozen desserts, are you Team Sorbet or Team Ice Cream? Taken in their purest forms, I’m an ice cream fan all the way. There’s just something about that rich dairy flavor that I find myself leaning towards if ever given the choice between the two. But throw a good bottle of bubbly in the mix? I’ll be Team Sorbet all day, every day.

I mean, sure, you can make and enjoy this Tangerine Sorbet all on its own, but if I have some sitting in my freezer you can pretty much bet the only way I’ll be enjoying it is at the bottom of a champagne flute.

So, the first step in making THE Freshest Tangerine Sorbet Mimosas is – quite obviously – making the Tangerine Sorbet out of the best, freshest tangerines you can find. If you’re familiar with the whole ice cream making process, the rest will be a piece of cake. You’ll need an ice cream maker of some sort, and a saucepan, but that’s about it. Oh, and to really up the citrus factor, we’re also adding in some fresh lemon juice and Grand Marnier.

Another incredibly important thing to note – you need to start this Tangerine Sorbet process at least the night before your planning to enjoy your ever-so-fancy mimosas. I tell you this now because I care for each and every one of you way too much to have you start this entire process one or two hours before you’re ready to throw your mimosas back, only to be met with soupy sludgy tangerine syrup. Hey, today is Friday and we still have plenty of time before New Year’s to get this going, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Once the Tangerine Sorbet is at its icy, frosty peak, you’re ready to mimosa it (yep, just made that a verb.) Take your favorite bottle of mimosa bubbles, pour some of it on top of your FRESH Tangerine Sorbet and – voila – you’re ready to enjoy THE Freshest Tangerine Sorbet Mimosa you ever did sip on.

You likely already have plans for New Year’s, but you better add some Tangerine Sorbet Mimosas to those plans ASAP.

I hope you don’t mind this post hitting your inbox a little late this morning, but, trust me, there’s an important story behind it. Plus, this Tropical Pineapple Lime “Faux-mosa” I created in partnership with my friends at Drizly is too good to pass up!

So, here’s the thing. This post almost didn’t happen. I recently took a part-time copyrighting job with a local company, and let’s just say it’s been a bit of a challenge for me to find a new balance between the work I have on my plate from them, my own blog work and, well, LIFE. I’ve been working some late nights and completely ignoring my husband (sorry, babe!) just to make sure I continue to uphold the standards I’ve set on myself as a an entrepreneur and also now a part-time employee.

I knew I wanted to share this Tropical Pineapple Lime “Faux-mosa” with you all at some point, and I was hoping it would be today, but I was waiting to get word from my good friends at Drizly that it was okay to post this early. I was also jamming on an important project for my company and really had no time yesterday to write a witty post for you all anyhow.

I had resigned myself to just skipping a post day (I usually post Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with my Friday cocktail posts often being the most popular ones) which, for a perfectionist/Type A personality like me, is really hard to come to terms with. Anyone else feel me out there?

But I told myself, “You know what, it’s not worth the stress.” I did not have time to shoot another recipe and I REALLY wanted to be able to enjoy the weekend without beating myself up over something that, in the big scheme of things, is probably fairly insignificant anyhow. I bring this all up only because it seemed like a “big deal” to me, but with my goal of finding that healthy balance, both in life and in the kitchen, I thought it was really important for me to let you know that no, I don’t have it all figured out, and even I still struggle with not being perfect and knowing when I need to just let something go.

The good news is, I opened my inbox this morning and had the green light to share the recipe, so now you get to have some Tropical Pineapple Lime “Faux-mosas” in your life this weekend!

And what a perfect weekend to have them. I don’t know about you, but we’re in the middle of a warming trend here in California, which means we’re looking at the high-80’s/low-90’s throughout most of the state. It’s also Father’s Day, so I’m hoping most of you will be doing something fun to celebrate with Tropical Pineapple Lime “Faux-mosas” in hand!

All of the warm weather and sunshine these past couple of weeks has gotten me on a big tropical fruit kick, so I immediately started leaning that way for the direction I wanted to take with the drink. I also wanted something that was flavorful enough (but not too sweet) that sparkling water (instead of sparkling wine) wouldn’t dilute the taste too much. The pineapple-lime combination (plus a touch of coconut water to really bring out the “tropical-ness”) was the perfect answer!

I also love that this drink is legitimately healthy AND hydrating, so you can enjoy a few Tropical Pineapple Lime “Faux-mosas” at brunch and still be awake and ready to take on the rest of your day. Although, if you just can’t pass up the sparkling wine at brunch (and I don’t blame you,) subbing in the boozy stuff for the sparkling water would be perfectly acceptable 😉

Of course we had to end it all with a cocktail 😉 Let me tell you, these Sparkling Carrot Mimosas do NOT disappoint.

Just to provide a quick recap: I started off the week with this savory Herbed Carrot Galette that would be equally as good served as a main dish at Easter brunch or a side dish for dinner. On Wednesday, I kept it uber-traditional and posted my family’s perfect recipe for Hot Cross Buns. And today we’re celebrating with mimosas!

I’ve been wanting to do some sort of Carrot Mimosa since last Easter, but to be honest I was a little intimidated. First of all, I don’t own a juicer (saving that appliance for when I have the kitchen of my dreams and all the space a food blogging gal can ask for) and I wasn’t exactly sure where I’d find straight-up carrot juice. I’m also not the biggest fan of vegetable juices, and although I loved the concept of turning one of my favorite brunch cocktails into a super-festive version, I was a little unsure of how “vegetable-y” it would taste.

But I’m happy to say that if there’s one thing that posting weekly cocktail recipes for the past year or so has taught me, it’s that there’s a way to spin everything to your liking if you just find the perfect combination. In fact, fun side story, one of my friends here in SB used to work at a local “juicery” and would often bring by the day’s leftover juices at the end of their shift. Seeing as by that time it would be 5pm or so, we’d be itching much more for a cocktail than a healthy juice (aren’t those reserved for breakfast or lunch?) and so we’d turn the juices into some pretty darn delicious cocktails to celebrate the end of another long day.

So I dipped back into those memories to figure out how to really make these Sparkling Carrot Mimosas the most delicious things ever, and I’m proud to say I succeeded! After trying out a few different combos, I found that a dash of Cointreau in addition to the sparkling wine and carrot juice (which I ended up finding in pure form at Trader Joe’s) was the perfect answer to taking the drink from overly-carrot-like to fresh and festive. And because Cointreau is orange-flavored, you still get a hint of traditional mimosa taste.

Can we also talk about how fun it is to garnish with those bright green carrot tops? Too cute.

Anyhow, the simplicity of these Sparkling Carrot Mimosas is completely up to you. If you want to really get down and dirty (and you own a juicer,) you can go ahead and make your own carrot juice. But if you’re bogged down with all of the other Easter menu prep you have going on, simply head out to TJ’s or your favorite local juicery and pick up some of their fresh-squeezed carrot juice.

Aside from the carrot juice, the only other ingredients you’ll need for these Sparkling Carrot Mimosas are items you likely already have stocked in your bar (at least, I hope you do!) We’re talking sparkling wine (our house favorite that’s very reasonably priced is Segura Viudas Brut Cava, but any dry sparkling wine will do) and the afore-mentioned Cointreau. That’s it!

Simply combine all three in the ratios I’ve provided for you below (being careful as you pour so as not to have a massive bubble-over) and you’ll have the perfect festive cocktail for your Easter breakfast or brunch. What more do you really need?

The popular brunch cocktail gets a spring twist with fresh carrot juice and a splash of Cointreau. The perfect drink for Easter!

Course: Drinks

Servings: 1cocktail

Author: CaliGirl Cooking

Ingredients

5ouncessparkling wine

1ouncecarrot juice

1ounceCointreau

Carrot tops for garnish, if desired

Instructions

Combine all three ingredients in a champagne flute, pouring each one in slowly and steadily so as not to have a bubble-over (can’t waste any of that booze!) Garnish with green carrot tops, if desired. Enjoy!

I’ve missed you. Seriously. If you’ve found me on Instagram or Facebook, then you know I’m still alive. If you haven’t found me in either of these places (yet), I’m sorry if I’ve been worrying you.

Although I haven’t been posting lately, I have still been working on this here blog and basically trying to teach myself as I go along. I must not be as computer-savvy as I thought because it took me (not kidding) multiple hours to figure out how to even create my own header!! Please tell me I’m not the only one with this problem? And if any of you out there have any words of wisdom you would like to share, I’m all ears! Blogger friends please help. We can discuss over mimosas?

Guys, I am REALLY excited to share this recipe with you. It is super easy and super delicious AND…my dad came up with this idea. There, I said it. But it only seems fitting to give him due credit because he is, after all, the main gene source for my culinary creativity. That man is amazing.

Have you guys ever heard of a Harvey Wallbanger? I’m pretty sure it had it’s heyday back in like, the 70’s (I only say this because my aunt has some pretty funny stories about enjoying these when she was younger, but we’ll have to save those for later.) I myself became familiar with the drink in the form of a deliciously boozy bundt cake my mom made growing up, complete with all of the famous cocktail’s ingredients. I know technically the booze bakes out of the cake in the process but just the glaze itself had plenty of a kick! I guess I developed my taste for delicious cocktails early on 😉

Anyhow, Chris and I headed up to my parents’ house in Santa Cruz the other weekend for a belated Easter celebration (I had to work on the actual holiday…boooo) and of course, being the family that we are, we had to start “Easter” morning with mimosas. So as we’re standing there chatting, enjoying the first few sips, my dad pipes up and says “I wonder what a Harvey Wallbanger Mimosa would taste like?” He then proceeds to go grab the Galliano out of the liquor cabinet and let’s just say it didn’t take us long to realize that this was a REALLY good thing.

A traditional Harvey Wallbanger is made with vodka, Galliano and orange juice. We just swapped the vodka for sparkling wine and, voila! The Harvey Wallbanger Mimosa was born.

A couple of tips for this drink in particular as well as bubbly opening/pouring/drinking in general:

When opening a bottle of bubbles, remove the foil but be sure to leave the cage on the cork. This is an extra safety measure but many people don’t know about it.

Once you have removed the foil, you want to slowly twist the bottle with one hand while holding the cork with the other hand. The goal is not, as many people think, to open the bottle with a huge POP. In Sommelier training, you are told that the opening of the bottle should be “no louder than a nun’s fart in church.” Bet you didn’t know that, huh?

Our favorite “house” sparkling wine is a cava (Spanish sparkling wine) called Segura Viudas Brut Reserva. We usually get about two cases of this at a time (we have some connections) but each bottle is under $10 apiece. A great deal for everyday bubbles!

When pouring the bubbly into your glass for this cocktail, do so slowly, while tilting the glass. This will help prevent a “bubble over.” These bubbles are not to be wasted!

Hi, I'm Robin! A passionate foodie, I love creating (mostly) balanced recipes while still allowing plenty of room for life’s little indulgences. I believe that with a focus on whole, minimally processed foods, there's no need for severe diets or restrictions. Thanks for reading my blog….I look forward to getting to know you!